Chinese Pinyin is a Roman-letter based system that China now uses to mark the pronunciation of Chinese characters. With four tones and pinyin, any Chinese characters can be pronounced precisely. In many cases, Pinyin is quite intuitive to English speakers with only a few exceptions. However, it can be a twist to render Pinyin in four tones for people who just start.
| b | p | m | f |
| d | t | n | l |
| g | k | h | |
| j | q | x | |
| z | c | s | r |
| zh | ch | sh | |
| y | w |
For consonants, we also put all these into English words with the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way.
*Note: We pronounce these consonants followed by some vowels that can help deliver the sound more clearly. Letters in the following explanation in “…” are pronounced as in English, and those in ‘…’ are pronounced in Pinyin.
b – as the “b” in “book”
p – as the “p” in “pool”
m – as the “m” in “moon”
f – as the “f” in “food”
d – as the “d” in “door”
t – as the “t” in “tom”
n – as the “n” in “no”
l – as the “l” in “love”
g – as the “g” in good”
k – as the “k” in “kill”
h- as the “h” in “high”
j- as the “j” in “jeep”
q- as the “ch” in “cheese”
x- as the “sh” in “sharp”
z- as the “z” in “zero”
c- as the “ts” in “tsunami”
s- as the “s” in “sun”
r- as the “r” in “red”
zh- start with ‘j’ in “jeep”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.
ch- start with ‘q’ in “cheese”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.
sh – start with ‘x’ in “sharp”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.
( ‘zh, ch, sh’ are similar to, but strictly different from ‘j, q, x’ respectively. However, mixing them is not a too big problem for you to be understood in China.)
y- as the “y” in “yes”
w- as the “w” in “wood”
(From: zapChinese- Chinese pinyin-vowels)
More information about learning to speak Chinese
You can download this Chinese input method, which is the best tool for learning Chinese Pinyin and characters.
HSK Test
General Chinese (Beginner Level)
General Chinese (Intermediate Level)
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